Your core developer guys (software engineers, programmers, and QA folk) are a lot like Tanks. Without Tanks, groups tend to fall apart, as no one is present to take the brunt of the enemy opposition; they are essentially the glue that holds the group together, so to speak. Likewise, without developers to add interactivity, functionality, and the general aspects of video games that, you know, actually make them video games, you just have a large sum of disparate elements. Just a pile of… stuff. It may be aesthetically pleasing stuff, it may sound nice, it might have lofty ideas behind it, but without the developers to put everything together, you have no game, and you have no group. And that means no loot!

You content creators (artists, audio, and designers) are a lot like DPS. To an outside observer, the Damage Dealers’ attention-demanding actions define a group’s progress. By the same token, gamers judge games primarily on graphics, sound design, and core mechanics. Very rarely does the generally gaming public take into account a game’s scheduling during production, or its programming language, even though these are equally important elements. The content creators, just like DPS, are the highly-visible rock stars, always at the forefront a game’s public image, and their performance is often one of the greatest contributions to both a game’s success.

And finally, your producers and project managers, well, they’re a lot like Healers. Often the unsung heroes, Healers ensure that groups run smoothly; they keep their Tanks alive and kicking, and keep their DPS buffed and refreshed so they can keep dishing out their damage. Healers will often fall into the role of the group’s leader as well, relying on an advantageous observation point on the battle field to relay important info to their teammates. A good producer, like a good healer, can mean the difference between the unmitigated success and total failure of a project. Through scheduling, team management, and sometimes a little business finesse, producers keep the other members of their team enabled and doing what they do best. Sometimes, if a Healer or a producer is doing their job well enough, it may seem like they aren’t doing much at all, but never mistake team cohesion with inactivity! Healers, producers… they both keep things running smoothly!

So what does all of that mean? Well, nothing specifically. Just a fun observation. However, I’d be curious to see how many people on a game development team would identify most with the respective class roles listed above…